Heart of Honeysuckle
by Hitsugi Zirkus
Summary: It's the day after they recited their vows, and Leo has never been happier in his life. Elliot/Leo. Domestic. For gugeta


**A/N**: Remember when I said that the Elliot/Leo pairing could do with some more fluff? Well, I wrote this for Geta in thanks for the hella rad job he did for the cover of Clockwork Circus' mix (the link of which is posted on my profile). Anyway but yes, I tried to write out their actual big day, but I realized my heart shut down too much from the fluff feels. I think it was for the best. One day a wedding Elleo shall be written. One day...

Anyway, please enjoy! And please read my ending notes afterward!

**Heart of Honeysuckle**

There was always the stomach-churning sensation that everything was a dream every time he woke up after such beautiful days. Laying on the bed with his eyes closed, Leo's first waking thought was that the previous day hadn't happened at all and that it'd been but a vivid dream. Maybe all of it was, from day one when he was sitting in the library minding his own business until someone with blond hair and pierced ears sat across from him and showed interest in the music theory book he had open.

Leo shifted lazily, freezing when a sore sensation pinned itself down below him. The sudden awareness of stickiness between his thighs and scent of musk underneath herbal tea and eucalyptus made Leo hitch his breath. Not a dream? None of it? Leo would know that scent anywhere.

He looked down at his hand, where a silver band looped around his ring finger. Etched on it were familiar purple flowers, breathtaking even on a ring. It was custom made, and very expensive. Leo remembered feeling embarrassed and getting into an argument about it - he had lived a very modest life and wasn't used to gifts, much less expensive ones.

But he remembered the words spoken to him that day: "It's not a gift, you dumbass! This isn't the same as a birthday present. I wanted to get you something that would remind you of us, because…" A slight coloring of cheeks, and his hands were enveloped in larger, warmer ones. "Because I want you to be what never changes for me."

Leo punched his pillow, a reflexive movement for when he was too embarrassed or fed up with his overflowing emotions. _Idiot_! he thought, but far from unkindly. More like in fondness, if his lip-biting smile was any indication. That's just how the man who proposed to him was like. Elliot Nightray, his…

Leo punched his pillow a few more times until his soreness came back and he attempted to roll over. The space beside him was empty. But he wasn't dreaming.

Over ten years of precious memories caught up to Leo in fast succession until slowing down to the past week and the previous day of his wedding: Holding hands with Elliot, not able to hold back a smile as Elliot gazed at him with his clear blue eyes like Leo was the only person in the world to him, not even glancing at Oscar Vessalius as he recited verses or their friends and family. To be fair, Leo hadn't looked away from his partner for a second either, too absorbed in his eyes or grin, or even the pristine white of his suit (which Leo had joked about before made Elliot the bride). Then that beautiful ring sliding over his finger…

Leo swore he had never been kissed so lovingly before.

The images of the night came back to him as well, when the sweetness of the day melted into more heated touches and whispered words. And it was like saying their vows all over again, which had been breathed out many times between them before, for years, with every look and kiss that renewed their promises.

Feeling pleasantly warm, Leo attempted to slide off the bed, wincing but nonetheless able to stand. After sliding on his underwear, he got out one of Elliot's shirts from inside the bag they brought with them to the hotel and followed the sudden scent of something tasty in the air.

Elliot was setting trays of food on the table - breakfast, by the sight of french toast smothered in syrup, sausage, hashbrowns, sliced fruits, and a small carton of orange juice.

Noticing Leo pad into the room, Elliot offered him a small smile. "Hi."

The corner of Leo's lips quirked up at the underlying sound of shyness in Elliot's tone. It was cute to have his usually loud boyfriend - no,_husband_ - become suddenly meek. At least he wasn't the only one still dazed from the past twenty-four hours. He went over and kissed Elliot chastely on the lips like he always did. "Morning."

Elliot relaxed. "Actually, it's noon now," he said. Any other time he would've been disapproving, but he laughed a bit. "I managed to order some breakfast before they stopped making it though. I made sure the orange juice was pulpless."

Leo gave him another kiss and sat down at the table with him. "Order?" he asked dubiously. When they first arrived at the hotel, they decided to get dressed in more comfortable clothes and watch a movie with some of the complimentary popcorn in the microwave. All their cuddling through the movie had prompted them to move on to more…intimate activities, so there wasn't technically a dinner for them. Leo piled the food on his plate, ravenous.

"Ah, uhm… We get free room service. We do, that is, people who just uhm…"

Never able to resist the urge to tease, Leo grinned. "You can do _this_and _that_ to me, can give me the cheesiest ring in the world, can ask me out on our first date after you wrote a _song_ for me, but you can't say that we're honeymooners?"

"Shut up! This is… We're… Y-you're my…_finally_, my…" Elliot's flare of temperament died down, expression softening.

Leo's heart fluttered as fast as hummingbird wings. His voice was quiet and dreamy when he spoke, "It's still not legal, but… I'm the happiest I've ever been." He smiled down at his plate, starting to pick at his toast. After a short pause of them basking in their warm, mutual feelings, Leo spoke again. "How long have you been up?"

At that, Elliot rolled his eyes, mood taking a turn. "About two hours ago. I turned my phone back on and… Hold on, I'll show you." He dug into the pocket of his jeans, the only thing he was wearing. Leo roamed his eyes over his chest and arms, taking distracted bites of his breakfast.

"Look at this crap!" Elliot held out his phone, where nine new messages from their friend Oz and one from Elliot's adopted brother Gilbert were tacked under his notifications. "It's that shorty demanding pictures from us. I'm glad we had our phones off then, I would've killed him. No, I'm still gonna kill him, that sly pervert!"

Leo couldn't help but grin. When Elliot was focused on his food, Leo quickly typed out a reply to Oz, promising explicit details at a later date.

They ate their breakfast and when Leo got up to get a napkin, Elliot choked on his food. After much coughing and back patting, Elliot managed to say, while staring pointedly at Leo's legs, that perhaps a shower was in order. There was no way Leo was letting him off that easily though, and tugged his partner along into the spacious bathroom. Seeing that Leo was still too sore to want to stand for too long, Elliot ran the bath instead.

"Ooh, look, we get bubble stuff," Leo mused as the water ran, picking up the bottle.

"What are you, five?" Elliot asked, sitting on the sink's counter.

"Bubble baths are not just for kids. Why would this be in the honeymoon suite then?" Leo pointed out. He made another sound of musing, reading the label. "It's strawberry-scented. You'll smell nice and fruity for once."

"We're not taking a bubble bath!"

"It says the foam is pink!" Leo pressed in fascination, all but ignoring his partner by this point. Without further delay, he opened the bottle and began pouring little squirts of it in the filling tub. He splashed the water around to get the foam lathered up, genuinely amused by the pink color. "This is my childhood you're giving me, Elliot. I've never bathed in pink bubbles and I bet you haven't either." He flicked some water at him.

Scowling, but nevertheless no longer arguing, Elliot began to slide his pants off, and Leo smirked when he didn't see any underwear. After putting his ring on the counter, Elliot turned off the water and got into the tub.

Leo followed suit, shedding off his clothes. But he looked at his hand, not wanting to take off his ring. It still felt too fresh around his finger, and he didn't want to slide it off now for any reason. He always did have an odd way of hoarding things Elliot gave him very closely. The first song he had written for Leo on his piano was carried in Leo's bag for many weeks before he could bring himself to leave it at home when he worried it might get ripped.

_Funny how I always accuse him of being the cheesy one when I do things like that_… Figuring he didn't want to accidentally lose it in the bath however, he reluctantly took it off, putting it beside Elliot's on the counter.

The water was a nice hot temperature to Leo's surprise. He knew Elliot liked cool water, and the difference made them not attempt to wash up together too often. But right now, without even asking, Elliot had thought of him. Leo carefully sat himself between Elliot's legs, humming in contentment as the hot water lapped over him, soothing his muscles and everywhere else he was sore.

"We're not moving from here," Leo declared lazily, laying back on Elliot's chest.

"Nope, remember we're going sightseeing today. We only have this room for the weekend and we won't have time tomorrow," Elliot reminded. His hands began to weave through Leo's hair, wetting it down.

Leo made a noise of protest, but knew Elliot was right. They had both wanted to go to Sablier for a while now, but since it was more than a few hours away from their hometown in Reveille, they never got the chance. Elliot had been to Sablier before, and had told Leo all about the various shops and sights - and, of course, their large, architecturally breathtaking library. Excitement bubbled up in his chest like the pink foam at the thought. Leo put more bubbles in the water as Elliot occupied himself with washing Leo's long hair.

"I think you're having too much fun with that," Elliot said, lathering shampoo (also strawberry-scented, it seemed) in Leo's hair.

Leo gathered some of the foam, turning to blow it in Elliot's face. Elliot's expression changed to strained patience. "Do you really want to do this?" he asked in warning, fighting off a challenging grin.

Cocking a brow, Leo only smeared the foam over Elliot's jaw, giving him a fluffy pink beard. He couldn't even start laughing before the declaration of war was accepted and bubbles were flying and the water was splashing over the porcelain tub. A mix of laughter and curses echoed in the bathroom for a few minutes before Leo suggested breathlessly that they'd better actually wash up. The two could wrestle for hours if left unchecked.

After Elliot declaring that he had won since he had pinned Leo before they stopped, and Leo reassured him that wouldn't be the case next time, they sat opposite each other and bathed. The tub was larger than a normal one, but their legs still bumped against each other. Leo couldn't stop smiling all throughout, even when Elliot grumbled about the water they had gotten all over the floor tiles.

Out of the bath and letting the water and foam drain, Elliot started dressing and Leo blow-dried his hair, not having the time for it to air-dry like Elliot's shorter hair.

As Leo was pulling a new shirt (actually his this time) over his head, Elliot popped up beside him, grabbing the brush inside one of the drawers. Leo scowled. "No," he said, side-stepping away. Elliot caught him by the shoulder though and held him in place as he started running the brush through Leo's hair.

"You really don't value your hand, do you?" Leo said through narrowed eyes.

"Shut up, you never brush it," Elliot retorted. He started at the bottom, huffing whenever he hit a tangle, which was often. Leo would've stomped on his foot, if it weren't for that he secretly liked it. He liked his hair long, and if their more intimate activities were any indication, Elliot did too. The roughness then though was made up by how patiently and gently Elliot did brush his hair, which was every once in awhile. Sometimes he wondered if Gilbert rubbed off on him in that aspect, considering Elliot's other adopted brother Vincent would eagerly ask Gilbert to brush his own long golden hair.

Tying back the now tamed hair into a low ponytail, Elliot nodded in approval. "There, done. Was that so bad?"

"Do I have to look presentable?" Leo retorted, rolling his eyes. "There's only one person I have to impress with my looks, and he married me without my hair brushed." He meant it to be a quip, but his grinning at the end put out Elliot's fuse, and he lightly shoved Leo instead with his shoulder right as his phone rang in the bedroom.

As Elliot left to get it, Leo redid his ponytail. His partner really needed to learn to make the tie tight, otherwise it just got loose and it defeated the purpose of it all. Where had he even gotten a rubberband…? Leo realized with a flush that Elliot must've brought one.

"HE DID WHAT?"

Elliot came stomping back into the bathroom, waving his phone in Leo's face where Oz's name was lit up on the screen. "The hell is the meaning of this!? Shorty said you're going to give him unnecessary information -_that's none of his business_!" he added, shouting into the phone. There was laughter on the other end.

"Now Oz," Leo chided, "it's rude to call others when they're on their honeymoon. I told you, later. _Later_."

"More like never! Go hop off somewhere, you nosy rabbit!" With that, Elliot hung up, shoving his phone into his pocket.

"That's not very nice, Elliot. Oz just likes being a part of the fun," Leo said, idly straightening out the collar of his partner's shirt, even though it was already fine. "You know he's basically your best friend, so it's only natural."

"_You_'re my best friend, dumbass," Elliot said in a grumble. He pressed their foreheads together. "That's why _you_'re the one I married."

Leo chuckled lightly, but decided not to deny Elliot's words.

"Now let's stop talking about other people, especially that hyperactive guy. I'm pretty sure this is the time when I'm actually allowed to focus only on you…and nothing else." Elliot kissed the corner of Leo's lips softly, holding both of his hands.

"Rude," Leo said quietly when they were pressing foreheads again. "You always force me to focus on you. Who else can keep you on the straight and narrow?" With a laugh, he pulled away, but only so he could finally slip his ring back on. Elliot was already wearing his again, having put it on even before his clothes.

The ring didn't really have a power to it, but the physical manifestation of their promises, out for them to wear for all to see, weighed on their hearts in the most pleasant way.

_At least, that's what it feels like to me_, thought Leo after putting it on. Elliot was out of the bathroom again, gathering up a few things like their wallets, camera and keys. He came up behind Elliot as he peeped through the window's blinds.

"I think the weather said it might sprinkle later on, but it looks clear now. Well, we got umbrellas in the trunk, so it should be fine. If you want, I can go downstairs now and— Huh, Leo?" Elliot sounded surprised when Leo wrapped his arms around Elliot's middle, pressing his cheek on his shoulder. "H-hey, your cat side is showing again."

"Then shush before I claw at you or something. Ah wait, you actually_like_ that," he said with a smirk. He extended his arm out, examining the ring over Elliot's shoulder. "Hmm, I guess… The statice is rather nice."

"Told you," Elliot said, lightly bumping his head with Leo's.

_Something that never changes_… Leo's expression became thoughtful. He knew Elliot got embarrassed if he ever got too spacey about these things, but at that moment Leo swore his heart was going to overflow from pure happiness all over again.

He chuckled. "This actually happened…"_ It's not a dream. Elliot's here, and he's mine. And I'm his. Heh…not that I ever wasn't_. From the moment Elliot offered him one of his smiles that lit up his blue eyes with the warm melodies he wrote, as if Leo were listening to him play his piano, he was hooked.

_I don't like being considered much the romantic type because I'm so horrible at that kind of thing, but… I meant what I said this morning_.

And Elliot understood that, his eyes once more filling with song and making Leo fall in love all over again. Elliot kissed Leo's forehead. "Come on, let's get going. The library is closest. We'll go there first, you bibliophile."

Leo hummed, following his partner out the door. _This is the happiest I've ever been in my life_. He linked his hand together with Elliot's, the near non-existent space between their palms radiating warmth.

_Our life_.

* * *

**Ending A/N**: I hate these two, I should never have invested my emotions to them.

-points finger at you- I require thy help!

I have opened commissions recently! You lovelies on ffnet have heard me mention dear Geta a lot and we're actually hoping to meet each other for the first time this summer! Unfortunately, Geta lives pretty damn far away (yes, hello Atlantic Ocean, you piece of turd). So both of us have opened up commissions in the hopes I can raise enough money to see him! I'll be doing writing, and Geta has opened shop for writing, drawing, and jewelry making :D Links to our more detailed posts on tumblr can be found on my profile!

It would mean so much if you considered our commissions or helped spread the word! -bows-


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